


come stop your crying

by Rehearsal_Dweller



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Kid Fic, Multi, The Burning Maze (Trials of Apollo) Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-28 11:23:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19811272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rehearsal_Dweller/pseuds/Rehearsal_Dweller
Summary: The last time it happens, Nico doesn’t knock.Annabeth is on her way out the door, purse in one hand and texting with the other to let Reyna know she’s running late, when she almost walks into him. He’s standing in the same place he always is when he shows up at their front door, one hand held up, as if he were reaching for the door when she opened it.Annabeth takes one look at his face and lets Reyna know they’re going to have to reschedule.





	come stop your crying

**Author's Note:**

> Do you ever reread a book and then accidentally write 11 pages of a ship you haven't written for in four and a half years?  
> Because that just happened to me.
> 
> This was inspired both by a House of Hades reread and my #ocnecromancychallenge which involves resurrecting OCs you don't use anymore. It was supposed to be short, but here we are. It features a post-Burning Maze take on Marina and Bobby Jackson of the LNFH-verse (poor Ellis keeps getting the short end of the stick) and the lives of Percy, Nico, and Annabeth.  
> Title from "You'll be in my heart" from Tarzan, which also provided the title for the last LNFH short.
> 
> This fic is dedicated the person who commented on the first LNFH fic four years after I wrote it to tell me that Percy's sister's name is Estelle. She wasn't even in that fic. So she is in this one, here you go.

The first time it happens, Jason Grace is dead.

There’s a knock on the door and when Percy answers it Nico is standing there not quite meeting Percy’s eye. He looks like he’s been crying.

Percy lets him in.

\--

It occurs to Percy that it’s been a long time since Nico last sought him out. It’s been longer since he was last this vulnerable in front of Percy by his own choice. This is the first time that Percy’s even seen him in weeks.

“Why me?” is the first thing he actually says, despite a lot more questions swirling around in his head. He’s set Nico up on the couch sitting opposite him, the center cushion empty.

Nico looks up at him, shaking his head. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” repeats Percy.

“I – I couldn’t stay at camp,” says Nico. “Will keeps looking at me like I’m going to fall apart, and maybe I am, but I just – and nobody there really _knew_ Jason, and –“

“I’m not gonna lie, man, I didn’t know _you_ knew Jason that well,” Percy interrupts.

“There’s a lot you don’t know, Perce.” Nico sort of smiles, then, but it’s a sad half-smile. “Maybe that’s why I’m here.” He ran his hands through his hair. “This was a bad idea, I’ll leave – I’ll –“

“Nico.” Percy catches his ankle as he sprawls his legs out to get up. “It’s okay.”

He doesn’t know exactly _what_ is okay, but it feels like the right thing to say.

Nico deflates, listing over onto the back cushion. “I haven’t had a death hit me this hard in a long time.” His voice is quiet. It feels like a confession. “Not since –“

“Bianca,” Percy breathes. Nico nods, his eyes pressed shut. “Nico, I’m so sorry.”

“I’m sorry, too,” he says. “He was your friend.”

“Yeah. I don’t know if it’s really hit me yet.”

Nico sits up, reaching for Percy’s hand. He opens his mouth as if he’s going to speak, but nothing comes out.

They sit in silence until the sun rises.

\--

The second time it happens, Annabeth answers the door.

Nico is bleeding, bruised, and leaning heavily on the doorframe. Grey eyes meet black-brown.

Annabeth lets him in.

\--

She doesn’t know what brought him _here_ , not when his boyfriend is the best healer Camp Half-blood has, but Annabeth knows better than to ask.

Percy is out of town, which doesn’t seem to surprise Nico.

“I came to see you,” he says simply. He doesn’t tell her why.

He accepts her help with his injuries, when she offers. He looks slightly surprised, as if he’d almost forgotten about them, or maybe it was just surprise that she wanted to help him at all. Annabeth can read a lot of people, but Nico –

She sighs quietly as she wraps a bandage around his forearm. She’s always thought she couldn’t read Nico, but the reality was she’d spent a lot of time convinced her read on him was wrong.

It wasn’t.

She’s spent the last year trying to get to know him all over again, to varying degrees of success.

He sucks in a sharp breath; she’d accidentally squeezed his injured wrist too tightly.

“Sorry,” she says. She realizes they’ve been sitting in silence for a very long time.

“It’s alright,” he replies. “I – Annabeth, thank you. You didn’t need to do this.”

“Why come to us, if not for help?” She doesn’t mean to ask it, but it comes out anyway.

Nico blinks at her. “I haven’t seen you in a while, and I was in the area.”

“Oh,” Annabeth says. She hadn’t quite expected that. “I – oh.”

“We haven’t really been friends in the past,” he continues, “and a lot of that was my fault. I wanted to get to know you. Away from Percy.”

She touches his knee. “I’d like that too.”

\--

After that, it keeps happening. Every few weeks Nico appears at their door, sits with them for a while, and then leaves.

Sometimes they talk. Sometimes they don’t, and they just eat together quietly or watch something on tv or just enjoy each other’s company for a while. Sometimes he’s only there for a few minutes. Sometimes he’s around for hours. Percy and Annabeth are never quite _expecting_ Nico, but they’re also never surprised to find him.

It’s a comfortable rhythm they fall into. Somehow Nico’s always there at just the right time, pulling them into a moment of quiet comfort in their busy lives.

\--

The last time it happens, Nico doesn’t knock.

Annabeth is on her way out the door, purse in one hand and texting with the other to let Reyna know she’s running late, when she almost walks into him. He’s standing in the same place he always is when he shows up at their front door, one hand held up, as if he were reaching for the door when she opened it.

Annabeth takes one look at his face and lets Reyna know they’re going to have to reschedule.

She pulls Nico into the apartment and sits him down across the table from Percy before tugging a chair a little closer and sitting down next to him. Percy hasn’t noticed that they’re there, too focused on his breakfast.

“Nico,” she says in as gentle a voice as she can, “what happened?”

“Shit, Nic,” says Percy, whose gaze had snapped up from his cereal bowl as soon as Annabeth said Nico’s name. “No offense, man, but you don’t look so hot.”

Nico squeezes his eyes shut tight for a moment. “I – Will broke up with me.”

That explains a lot, actually, Annabeth thinks as she pulls Nico into a hug. Nico, who has always been _so_ resilient, not because he wants to be but because he’s always had to, who doesn’t think twice about a physical injury but is still learning to cope with emotional ones, melts into the hug like it’s the only thing he _can_ do. His group of friends has never been expansive, and it’s only been two years since it lost a core column. Nico would show up bruised, bleeding, and beaten just to say hello, but _this –_ one body can only take so much heartbreak.

And Nico’s had well more than his fair share of heartbreak.

Annabeth doesn’t ask why Nico came to _them_ , over his sister. Percy doesn’t ask what pushed him and Will over the edge. Neither of them tell Nico that everything is okay, or even that it will be soon. All they do is move him to the couch so they can sandwich him between them until he cries himself out.

His head rests on Percy’s shoulder while he sobs, Percy’s arm around his back holding him close. Annabeth holds both of his hands, stroking them gently with her thumbs.

He never knocks on their door again, because after this they give him a key.

\--

Nico is the third person Percy and Annabeth call when they find out that Annabeth is pregnant.

(Annabeth almost called him before her father, but things had been so much better with the Chases lately, and she didn’t want to spoil it.)

“I suppose you’ll want me to stop hanging around so much?” he says, with a tone that aims for joking and lands somewhere closer to defeated.

Percy elbows him (because, of course, as soon as he’d heard the news, Nico had shadow-travelled into their living room), grinning. “Nico, dude, are you kidding? We’re going to need every extra hand we can get.”

“I don’t know if that’s a great idea,” Nico says, though he’s starting to circle Percy like he’s caught in his orbit, “son of Hades and babies doesn’t seem like a great combination.”

“Hey, _baby_ , not babies,” Percy corrects, “just one. Probably. Anna, we’re not having twins, right?”

“Don’t know yet,” Annabeth says from her perch on the back of the couch, “hopefully not.”

“See, just one,” says Percy. His eyes track Nico as he walks. “You’re not dropping out of our lives over one little baby.”

“Thought you’d want me to,” says Nico. “I invited myself into your lives anyway.”

“ _We_ invited you in,” says Annabeth. “We want you here. Plus, we don’t know what we’re doing, we’ll need all hands on deck so to speak.”

“Me and decks aren’t exactly compatible either,” Nico insists, though each protest is more half-hearted than the last. Annabeth laughs.

“We’re going to move, though,” says Percy, “you’ll need to stick a little closer if you want to know where we’re living. And get your new key.”

“Closer?” Nico repeats. He’s still orbiting Percy.

“Yeah. And for the new house,” Percy continues, “we’re thinking three bedrooms.”

“Three?” Nico tips his head to one side. “Getting a little ahead of yourselves, aren’t you? Got to see if you like having one kid before you start planning the next one. Unless it’s supposed to be a guest room?”

Annabeth resists the urge to roll her eyes. “You can’t sleep on our couch forever, Nico.”

He stumbles a little, whipping around to face her, his eyes wide.

“What she means,” says Percy, breathing calm back into Nico’s posture with every word, “is that it’s for _you_ , dumbass.”

“If you want it.” She bites her lip, a little nervous. This isn’t how they’d planned to bring it up.

“Oh,” says Nico. “I – oh.”

“No pressure,” Percy says, “just think about it.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Nico is nodding, looking a bit out of sorts. “Yeah. Um, I just remembered that I have a thing to do today. With Hazel. So I’m going to go – do that. I’ll, uh, let you know. I’ll call you. Or come back. I don’t know.”

“We threw a lot at you all at once,” Annabeth says sympathetically. “Have a good time with your sister. Take your time.”

“Yeah.”

\--

They don’t see Nico for a few weeks after that.

Percy has started to predict that Nico intends to turn them down, that he just doesn’t know how to break it to them, but Annabeth remains pretty sure that Nico will take them up on their offer.

Reyna mentioned that Nico had told her about it, when she last talked to Percy.

Hazel had told Annabeth that she thought Nico was still mulling it over.

And still, weeks later, _nothing_.

Annabeth’s desk phone rings. “Annabeth Chase speaking.”

“Hey, Annabeth,” says Margot, the office receptionist. “There’s a guy here to see you.”

“My husband?” Annabeth asks, “or some random person off the street?”

“He says his name is Nick or something?”

“ _Nico_ ,” Annabeth replies, voice low. She smacks the phone back on its receiver and practically flies down the hall.

Sure enough, when she turns the corner into reception she’s greeted by the sight of Margot at her desk still with her phone in hand and Nico di Angelo standing awkwardly by the desk. He’s dressed in black jeans and an old camp shirt, fortunately without a sword on his hip, with a leather jacket folded over his arm. Annabeth falls into his arms easily, her lips brushing a quick kiss across his cheek.

“We were starting to worry, Nico.”

“I’m sorry, Annie,” he says. He cups the back of her neck. His fingers tangle in blonde curls and their foreheads touch. “I’ve been thinking, you know.”

“Dangerous,” Annabeth says, laughing.

Behind her, Margot clears her throat.

Annabeth pulls away from Nico gently. His hands still rest on her hips. “Nic, why _here_?”

Nico shrugs. “I made my decision. Didn’t want to wait until you got home in case I lost my nerve.”

“And have you?” Annabeth asks. “Lost your nerve?”

“No,” says Nico. “I haven’t.”

She can tell from the look in his eye what his decision is. And she can’t wait to tell Percy.

“Do you want to meet Perce out for lunch?” she says, mood a hundred times better than it had been an hour ago.

“Sure,” he answers.

“Let me just make sure I can walk away from what I was working on and let my team know I’m heading out,” Annabeth says. She’s fighting an urge to just take Nico by the hand and leave, but she knows that’s not the way responsible adults live their lives. Instead, she turns back toward her office, Nico’s hands skating across her abdomen and the small of her back before he pulls them away from her, and starts walking. She doesn’t run this time, instead taking a leisurely stroll back to her office. Nico follows her.

When they’re out by her car, Nico catches Annabeth by the hand, stilling her. His other hand skims across her stomach again. The baby bump has started to show now. “Annabeth, I’m sorry I took so long.”

“It’s okay, Nico.” She touches his hand, holding it over the baby. “It’s okay.”

\--

Hazel and Frank’s wedding falls two months before the baby is due.

Nico walks his sister down the aisle, and dabs at tears in the corners of his eyes before they can fall. He’s so happy to see her happy. They’re all _so happy_.

It’s been a while since the surviving Seven and company were all together in one place. For all that it’s a joyful occasion and they’re so excited for an excuse to all be together again, they also feel the loss of Jason all over again. Hazel and Frank left a seat at their table open for him.

They know Jason wouldn’t want mourning to bring the celebration down, but it’s hard not to think of him.

Annabeth isn’t much up for dancing at the reception. She finds her way out onto the dance floor for a few slow songs, dragged out by Percy a few times and once asked very tentatively by Nico. In between, in the more upbeat songs, she sits by the side at their table, usually chatting with someone else who wants a break, and watches. She watches Frank spin his new wife across the dance floor. She watches Leo and Piper bounce around, while Calypso stands by and laughs. She watches Reyna let loose and dance in a slightly ridiculous but completely sincere way.

She watches Percy pull a reluctant Nico out to the floor and dance the night away with him.

Late in the evening, they fall into chairs on either side of her, breathing heavily. “Having fun, Annie?”

“I am, yes,” she replies, patting Nico’s knee. She looks over at her husband, who’s wearing a silly grin. “Are you two?”

“I sure am,” Percy says. “What do you say, Nic?”

Nico’s got a faraway look in his eye. “Uh, yeah. Loads of fun.”

“Good.”

\--

Marina Sophie Jackson is born on a Tuesday.

Percy is at work when Annabeth goes to the hospital, because the baby wasn’t due for a few more days and that’s just what happens when you’re not expecting to have a baby that day. You go to work. So he’s at work, but not answering his phone. Annabeth tries him twice before she calls Nico.

They don’t know where Nico goes for the days and weeks when they don’t see him, but he always answers when they call.

He’s next to her before she even hangs up the phone. “Where’s Percy?”

“I think he’s working with the animals,” says Annabeth. “He can’t answer the phone when he’s in the tank.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Nico replies. “What can I do for you?”

“You can drive, right?” she asks. It’s not a question she needs to ask; Percy taught him.

“Of course?”

“Drive me to the hospital.” _No shadow-travel_ is left unspoken, but Nico seems to understand. “And then get Percy for me.”

“I can do that,” says Nico.

A few hours later, Annabeth finds herself holding a squirmy bundle of blankets and looking down at the face of her daughter for the first time. Percy sits down on the bed next to her, an arm finding its way around her back. They look up at the sound of a photo being taken.

Nico’s holding his phone up. “Thought you might want a picture. First family photo and all.”

\--

Nico offers to keep Estelle entertained when Sally and Paul arrive to visit the baby for the first time. Obviously they let Estelle meet her niece, but at the end of the day there’s only so long a seven-year-old can be around before she starts getting in the way. Nico doesn’t have a ton of experience with little kids – and what experience he does have is all a few years old, since it’s been a while since he spent significant time at Camp working with younger campers – but Estelle is a really chill kid, all told.

They play on the living room floor while Marina is passed around between grandparents and parenting tips are exchanged in the dining room. Nico has brought a few age-appropriate puzzles, Percy doesn’t know where he’d gotten them, and a box of crayons and a drawing pad. Estelle brought four of her favourite dolls. So between the two of them, they have plenty to keep themselves entertained for quite a while.

Percy knows – he _knows_ – that he should be paying attention to what Fredrick Chase was telling him about fatherhood, but he can’t help his eyes drifting over to Nico and his baby sister playing in the other room. Percy hasn’t seen Nico with a kid before, outside of maybe one or two of the younger Apollo kids back when he’d been dating Will. For all that Nico’s always saying he won’t be any help with Marina, playing with Estelle seems to have come to him very naturally.

Percy subtly taps Annabeth’s elbow and nods toward the living room. Estelle is giggling at the silly voice Nico has assigned to one of the dolls. Annabeth smiles fondly.

\--

Nico is around a lot more after Marina is born. Before, although he has his own bedroom in their new house, he usually only stayed a few days at a time. Now he’s there more often than not.

He still goes out during the day doing whatever it is he does when he’s not with them, but almost every day he finds his way back home to them. He’s taken to making dinner most nights, so Percy and Annabeth have one less thing to worry about. Often before he does this, he’ll walk in the door, take one look at the tired new parents, and immediately lift Marina out of their arms and send them off to take a break.

He is easily as involved in Marina’s care as her parents.

(It’s not until much later that it occurs to Annabeth and Percy, that he’s easily as much her parent as either of them.)

\--

Marina grows up speaking English and Italian and a smattering of Ancient Greek. She’s the first grandchild to her mortal grandparents, the first niece to all her parents’ friends, and she has every adult she knows wrapped around her little finger.

When she’s two, she gets a little brother. This time, when Annabeth goes into labor, Percy is with her. Nico comes home from his business trip three days early to look after Marina. He brings her to the hospital the morning after Robert Lucas is born, because unlike his sister he did not have decency to show up in the middle of the afternoon, much preferring the dark of night for his first appearance in the world.

So first thing in the morning, Nico packs up his – their – Percy and Annabeth’s toddler for an early visit. There’s a chill in the autumn air, so he digs her lightest jacket out of the closet. She insists on putting it on herself (“I do it, Nico! I do it!”), but has to give up and let him help when she can’t get the zipper lined up. He doesn’t let her try to manage her own shoes, because he’s already running a lot later than he’d told Percy he would be.

He’s tempted to shadow-travel, but Marina doesn’t like it. She likes to watch him do it, to see him disappear and reappear, but the few times he’d taken her with him she hadn’t enjoyed it. Plus, Percy left him the keys to Annabeth’s car. Before he knows it, he’s got her clipped into her carseat and they’re off.

Marina is too young to hold the baby herself, but she sits in Nico’s lap and Nico holds him around her. Her little fingers find Robert’s even smaller ones and she giggles when he squeezes them in that instinctive way babies do.

“We think we’re going to call him Bobby,” says Annabeth.

“Bobby,” repeats Nico, trying it out.

“It felt right,” says Percy. Nico nods.

“Hey, Rina-bean,” he says, pressing a small kiss to the top of her blonde head, “Can you say ‘hi Bobby’?”

“Hi, Bobby,” Marina says in a very small voice.

There’s a click and a flash as Percy takes a picture. It goes on the wall next to the first one Nico took of Marina, Percy, and Annabeth.

\--

“Nico, I hate to ask because it was my commitment, but could you chaperone Marina’s field trip for me?” Annabeth asks over breakfast. She’s just hung up with her teammate from her firm. “Everything’s falling to pieces on this project and they need me to go in. Please, I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

“Of course, Annie, don’t worry about it,” Nico replies, reaching around her to refill her coffee mug. “Do you need me to drop Bobby off at daycare, too?”

“Gods, I could kiss you, you’re amazing,” Annabeth says. “Yes, that would be great. I’ll call Ms. Bronwen and let her know it’ll be you instead of me. _Thank you_.”

And then she gets up, mug in hand, and walks to the other room to make her phone call. Nico stays where he is, slightly stunned, until Percy comes in and takes Annabeth’s vacant seat at the kitchen table.

“You good, Nic?”

“Yeah,” Nico says, shaking himself slightly. “I’m fine. I’m going on Rina’s field trip today, now.”

“Ah,” says Percy. “Mentally preparing for the herd of first graders. It’s very important to be in the right mindset for these things.”

Nico laughs. “There’s going to be an adult for every four kids, Perce.”

“And even that might not be enough,” Percy replies. He steals a bite of Nico’s toast. “But hey, it’s an aquarium trip. You’ll get to see me! Just focus on that and it’ll get you through the worst of it.”

“Gods, you’re right,” Nico says mock-seriously, “the kids will be nothing compared to you.”

Percy gives him a playful shove and they fall into a companionable silence as they finish their breakfast.

Annabeth pokes her head back into the kitchen before she leaves. “Nico, you’re all set for the field trip. You are _such_ a lifesaver, I love you. Okay, heading out. See you both later!”

“Bye, Annabeth,” they say in a slightly off-unison chorus. Percy leaves for work not long after her, and Nico sets to getting the kids ready for school, with Annabeth’s thoughtless _I love you_ ringing in his ears.

\--

“Hey, dad?” says Bobby, age six, tugging on Nico’s shirt. “Can you help me with my math homework?”

“No, I – I’m not –“ Nico splutters. “Percy?”

“Not him, he’s no good at math,” Bobby says. “I want _your_ help.”

“And I can, but I’m not – you shouldn’t call me –“ Nico looks from Bobby to Percy and back. “ _Perce?”_

“Why not, Nic?” Percy says, not coming to Nico’s rescue at all. “You pretty much are.”

“I’m _not_. You and Anna –“

“You’ve been in their lives since the day Mari was born. You take care of them when they’re sick and bring them to school and do at least as much parenting as Annabeth and me. Why shouldn’t you be their dad, too?”

“ _Percy_.”

Bobby is still standing between them, clearly growing impatient with Nico’s identity crisis.

“ _Nico_.”

“Dad,” Bobby says. “Dads. If one of you doesn’t help me with my math, I’m going to have to go ask Mom. And Mom is busy right now. So are you going to help me or not?”

Nico’s eyes don’t leave Percy’s, but he says, “Yes, Bobby. I’ll help. What are you stuck on?”

Percy grins. “Total dad move.”

“You and I aren’t done,” Nico says to Percy before he follows Bobby back to the kitchen table.

“I should hope not,” says Percy. Nico glances back at him, and he’s leaning on the wall grinning after him.

\--

Annabeth and Nico are alone in the house for the first time in months. Marina and Bobby are sleeping over with Hazel and Frank’s twins, Toby and Becca, and Percy is out with his coworkers for a team building dinner.

It’s the quietest their house has been in years.

They’re enjoying it immensely, sitting on either end of the big squishy couch in the family room. Annabeth has her legs curled up next to her. She’s reading a book she’s been meaning to get to for ages, but never had the time or energy. Nico has a puzzle out on the coffee table. The kids have been “helping” him with it for a week or so, but he’s found he makes a lot more progress working alone. They’ve been sitting in comfortable silence for well over an hour.

Annabeth hums, closing her book on her thumb. Nico looks up at her.

“I have a question,” she says. “You don’t have to answer.”

“Shoot,” he replies. He has lived with Annabeth for a long time, and he doesn’t think she can scare him anymore.

“Are you still in love with Percy?”

He was wrong. Annabeth can definitely still scare him, and he should have known better than to doubt her. “Still? No.”

Annabeth does that little hum again. This time she finds her bookmark and sets her novel on the table. “I see.”

“Anna, I’m not fifteen anymore,” says Nico. He sits back against the couch.

“I know you aren’t,” says Annabeth. She opens her arms toward him, and he slides over, settling against her. “Are you in love with Percy _again_?”

“Would it be terrible to say yes?” Nico asks. He isn’t looking at her.

“No.” Annabeth squeezes his shoulders. “I can hardly blame you, can I?”

Nico laughs. “I suppose we’re in the same boat, aren’t we?”

“I suppose we are,” Annabeth agrees.

“Why do you ask?”

“I don’t know,” Annabeth admits. “I guess I was just wondering. I know you love the kids like they’re your own. I had a feeling you loved Percy, too.”

She strokes his upper arm absentmindedly. “I was wondering if –“

“I love you, too, you know,” Nico says, suddenly feeling rather bold.

“I thought you only –“

“I’m not fifteen anymore, Annabeth,” Nico repeats, pushing himself up and twisting to look her in the eye. “Things are a lot more complicated than they used to be.”

“That’s true,” says Annabeth. She brings her hand up to sweep Nico’s long hair away from his face. “I promised Percy I would wait for him to get home to bring all this up.”

“Percy’s loss.”

\--

A few weeks later, Percy sets a plain gold ring on the kitchen table in front of Nico.

He stares at it blankly. He recognises it – it matches the bands that Percy and Annabeth both wear. Annabeth is sitting to his right; Percy settles into the chair on his left.

“What –“

“We love you,” Percy says. “And you love us.”

“And you’re already a huge part of our life,” Annabeth adds. “You’re the only person we see as much as each other, you take us out on what are basically dates when we need a break.”

“You’re helping raise our kids,” says Percy. He puts a hand over Nico’s on the table. “Marina and Bobby already call you dad, for the gods’ sake.”

“I keep asking them to stop,” Nico says weakly.

Annabeth laughs. “What if we don’t want them to, hmm?”

“But this –“ Nico picks up the ring. Percy’s fingers tighten on Nico’s other hand. “You can’t really mean –“

“We do,” Percy insists. “We’ve been talking about it for a while, actually. Obviously it’s all symbolic, but you’re basically our husband anyway. You deserve the promotion.”

Nico opens his mouth and closes it a few times. Annabeth rubs small circles on his back.

“You don’t have to decide now,” Annabeth says. “No pressure, just think about it.”

Percy nods. “Just know we’ll have you as much or as little as you’re willing to give – even if that means nothing changes.”

“We love you,” Annabeth repeats.

“And I love you,” Nico says quietly. He pushes his chair out from the table and leaves. He calls Reyna and they go out for lunch.

The ring is still on the table.

\--

“Hey Dad?” Marina says. She’s chewing on her bottom lip. Annabeth does the same thing when she’s upset.

“What’s up, Rina-Bean?” replies Nico, settling in next to her on the couch.

“Do you ever feel like there’s a gap in your life?” she asks, “Where someone’s supposed to be, but isn’t?”

“Sometimes,” Nico says. He still finds himself looking around for Jason, or for Bianca. “I’ve lost more than my share of friends.”

“Well I – I don’t have any dead people,” says Marina, frowning. “But sometimes I feel like there’s somebody missing.”

“Missing? How?”

“Like I’m looking around for someone who isn’t there.” She sweeps a hand through blonde curls, frustrated. “Who’s never been there. But it feels like they should be.”

She crawls across the couch to nestle in with Nico, fitting into the space where his legs are curled around next to him and wrapping her arms around his waist. She doesn’t fit as well now as a twelve-year-old who’s just had a growth spurt as she had when she was four, but it still comes naturally to both of them.

“I can’t say I quite know the feeling,” Nico says, hugging her close. “How do you feel about it?”

“I don’t know,” Marina says honestly. “It ebbs and flows, sometimes I don’t notice it at all, and sometimes it aches. When I’m at Half-Blood I feel it more than when I’m home. And sometimes when I’m with Grace –“

“Piper’s Grace?”

“Yeah. Sometimes when I’m with Grace I feel it, but not always. And not with her sisters.” Marina sighs. “It’s not sad, exactly. I just wish I knew what it was. Maybe in some other life I had a best friend.”

“What does that make Maya?” Nico asks with a laugh. Maya Rodriguez is the only Greek legacy half-blood as old as Marina, and they’ve always been attached at the hip whenever they’re together.

“Not like Maya,” says Marina, though she smiles. “Bigger. Like, um, a soulmate. Or a twin. I don’t know.” She waves into the empty space to her right. “Somebody who’s always right _here_.”

“Maybe you do,” says Nico.

“It’s like if, uh, you never came to the future?” Marina starts haltingly. She’s clearly casting around for the right way to say whatever she’s thinking. “If you stayed in the forties. And grew up how you were supposed to. But a little bit of you always knew Mom and Dad were supposed to be in your life somewhere, only you didn’t know it was them you were missing because you wouldn’t know who they were.”

“Oh,” says Nico. He still can’t relate to the exact feeling she’s described, but can imagine the empty ache that would face a life without Percy and Annabeth. “Oh, Rina.”

“I love my life,” Marina says, leaning onto him and resting her head on his shoulder. “It’s really good. I’m lucky. I just wonder sometimes what that other life was like.” She tips her head back to look at Nico’s face. “But this one’s good.”

\--

Nico walks calmly into the kitchen. Annabeth and Percy are there, enjoying a nice chat and come hot cocoa. A third mug is waiting for him by the microwave. Nico’s just finished bringing Marina up to bed; she’d fallen asleep on the couch with him discussing their respective ghosts.

“Hey, Nico!” Percy greets. “You okay?”

Nico passes his cocoa mug and crosses the room to them, but doesn’t sit down. “I’ve made a decision. I wanted to tell you before I lost my nerve.”

Annabeth’s head snaps up. “And have you? Lost your nerve?”

“No,” says Nico, “I haven’t.”

“I feel like I’m missing something here,” Percy says, looking from his wife to his – Nico.

“Ask me again,” says Nico. “Percy, ask me again.”

 _That’s_ when Percy catches on. He scrambles upstairs, to grab the ring that’s been sitting on his bedside table for months. When he gets back to the kitchen, Nico and Annabeth haven’t moved. Percy meets Annabeth’s eyes and she stands up, moving next to him to face Nico.

“Nico,” Annabeth says a little shakily.

“Will you marry us?” Percy finishes.

“Yes,” says Nico. “Yes.”

Annabeth lets out a startled laugh, like even though she knew what was coming she still didn’t quite expect him to say that. Nico grins and falls into their open arms. He kisses Annabeth, then Percy, then lets Percy slide the ring onto his finger.

“Nic,” Percy asks later that night, when they’re all tangled up on Percy and Annabeth’s bed, “why now?”

“Something your – _our_ – daughter said,” Nico says toward the ceiling, squeezing Annabeth’s hand. “That made me think about how important you two actually are to me.” He let out a slow breath. “I’ve been so scared for years that one of these days you’d decide you were tired of having me around all the time. I was afraid to believe you’d actually love me.”

“And now?” Annabeth prompts.

He presses a little kiss to her forehead, then turns to rest his head against Percy’s. “I’m not afraid anymore.”


End file.
